Reflection for Sunday 28th July 2024

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Bread for the Hungry (John 6: 1-15)

Today we commence five Sundays from John Chapter 6 which is all about the hungers of life and how Jesus is the Bread of Life. The scriptural symbol for John is an eagle, reputed to be the only creature able to look directly into the sun without damaging its eyes. More than any other writer, John gazes into the glory of God, filtered for us through the humanity of Jesus, the word made flesh. “No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” John (1:18).

And the soaring eagle represents how John starts a chapter with something very ordinary, gradually rising to the heights of divine revelation. Commencing today, five Sundays rise from physical hunger to the bread of faith, and eventually to the mystery of the Eucharist.

“No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” John (1:18).

The first hunger is the need for ordinary food. The large crowd who came to hear Jesus had not brought adequate supplies. They did not expect to be there for such a length of time and there were no shops nearby. The people were hungry.
It is a huge scandal that despite all our scientific advances and modern technology there are millions of people without enough food today. The cynic raises his voice and says, "If Jesus could feed a huge crowd with five loaves and two fish, why doesn't God do something today to feed the starving people?" But God's answer might be, "I have done something, I have sent you." Obviously, as individuals we can do very little, but even the little counts. Shocked by pictures of a famine, two young fishermen in Scotland made a local collection. The response was astounding and later developed into Mary’s Meals which today feeds more than a million hungry children with food and education. And if all of us little people worked together, we might generate a groundswell of conscience that would inspire those with wealth and power to apply modern science and technology to the underdeveloped nations.

• Civil wars hamper the efforts of many nations. But it is the wealthy nations who are supplying the weapons of war, thereby exploiting a people who are already very poor.
• The top footballers in the Premier League earn as much in one week as the average worker earns in a year.
• Approximately one-third of all food produced is discarded and 'whenever food is thrown out it is as if it were stolen from the table of the poor". (Pope Francis in his Encyclical on Care for our Common Home.)

Jesus used the humble gifts of others to feed the large crowd. The one who gave up the five loaves and two fish was but a small boy. The bread he gave was made from barley, the roughest, poorest sort of bread. It didn't look too promising. But when given in generous love, God will do the multiplying. No talent or moment of time is too small to be offered to the Lord.

As the great Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to say: "Do the little thing with a lot of love.”